Dr. Lindsay is a behavioral neuroscientist that uses molecular biological and pharmacological techniques to study the impact of substances on learning and memory in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). C. elegans are small, non-segmented worms that demonstrate a wide variety of learned behaviors. The main behavior of interest in Dr. Lindsay’s lab is called state dependent learning. State dependent learning occurs when an organism learns something in an altered state (IE intoxication to ethanol) and will only recall that information well when remembering in a similar state of intoxication. Substances that have yielded state dependent learning in Dr. Lindsay’s research are ethanol and nicotine. 

Research interests include testing the impact of a variety of learned behaviors under state dependent learning, testing other substances for state dependent learning, and identifying the mechanism of state dependent learning.

Other research interests include identifying nematodes in soil samples and testing soil samples for nematode diversity.